Own the rights?
I loved this book as a kid and think it's cool to make a movie out of it. But why change so many elements of the story? I don't see why the dad was killed off. Also, more importantly, the main character i the book is supposed to be part Native American (if I remember correctly), yet the actress playing her is blonde. Updates to the story are fine, but there are so few movies with strong, especially female, main characters who are people of color. Why take that out? Were they afraid that people might be offended by (or uninterested in) the depiction of Native American spirituality? There are other changes to the original story, but that's sort of the most obvious one. It's entertaining enough for a TV movie, but disappointing that they had to "update" it to the point of looking like so many other teen suspense movies.
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